


Reflections

by Thanos6



Series: Director Wily [1]
Category: Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dr. Wily-centric, Gen, Humor, Podfic Welcome, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:41:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27893227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thanos6/pseuds/Thanos6
Summary: Set just before the first game in the series. Things are not as they should be. It's Dr. Light who's decided to try and conquer the world, and Dr. Wily who's trying to stop him (so he can conquer it himself; some things DON'T change). What exactly is going on here?
Series: Director Wily [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042503
Kudos: 7





	1. Not This Time

Dr. Albert W. Wily hummed to himself as he ran a comb through what was left of his hair. He wasn't usually full of so much energy in the morning, but after all...

Today was the big day!

Today he was going to infiltrate the home of his former partner, Dr. Thomas Light. It doubled as Light's laboratory, and housed his experimental next-generation robots. He would reprogram these "Robot Masters," then have them lead the army of lesser automata he had created here, at his secret manufacturing plant on a deserted Pacific Island. Then nothing could stop him from taking over the world, and at last achieving the recognition he'd deserved for so many years, but which only Thomas had ever been given (life was so unfair).

The glorious images of world conquest floated in his mind's eye. Building his Skull Castle, an impenetrable fortress from which he would rule. Creating an entire city with nothing but his own experiments, no matter how bizarre or outlandish...a Monsteropolis, if you will. Thomas kneeling at his feet and confessing who the superior roboticist truly was. Proclaiming himself the supreme master of the Earth. Why, he could almost hear the words now.

Actually, he could.

He blinked and stalked into his communications center, which allowed him to monitor—and hijack—broadcasts from all over the world. He had been planning to use it for the first time when he returned with the Robot Masters, so he could make his demands to his future cowering subjects. But it looked like someone else was stealing his thunder. A familiar bearded face covered each of the dozens and dozens of monitors that ringed the room.

_Thomas?_

"So let me repeat," his former colleague was saying, with an edge in his voice that Wily had never heard before. "Acknowledge me as the world's rightful ruler, and I shall call off my Robot Masters and their troops, and end the devastation. Continue to resist, and..." He grinned evilly, in a manner most unsuited to his Santa Claus-like face. "...We'll see if the graves can be dug faster than they can be filled."

Thoughts spun through Dr. Wily's mind like a hurricane. This wasn't the Light he was used to, naïve and gentle and trusting and as threatening as a marshmallow. What had happened to him?

For that matter, what had happened to the world? He hadn't checked the news this morning. Where had the Robot Masters been deployed to, and what kind of havoc were they wreaking?

And in the eye of the hurricane, one thought established itself with a calm fury.

_You will NOT upstage me again, Thomas._

Without even realizing it, he snapped his comb in half.


	2. Counter-Scheming

Dr. Wily used his communications center to quickly scan news feeds and secure military channels ( _a two-year old could have broken their encryption,_ he thought, forgetting that most two-year olds didn't have supercomputers).

The situation was problematic indeed. Eight highly complex humanoid robots, each leading a small army's worth of their less advanced relatives on a mission of conquest. Neither police nor military forces had been able to stop them. By assigning the Robot Masters to take over heavily populated areas, Dr. Light had prevented the authorities from breaking out heavy weaponry for fear of civilian casualties, while also having plenty of hostages to execute should the world prove slow to bow to his rule. _Clever, Thomas._

He folded his hands under his chin, thinking quickly. His best option was a decapitation strike, to take out Light quickly and disable...or even better, take control of...all the robots at once. Unfortunately, that would prove difficult. No doubt he had fled Light Labs and taken refuge in some faraway stronghold, just as Wily himself had done.

His next best option was to take out the Robot Masters. The forces of the world were trying and failing to do that themselves, of course, but they didn't possess his unrivaled genius.

He had many robots himself, with the capacity to make thousands more, but they too could fall under a Robot Master's control if sent to attack directly. He also had his greatest invention, an organic blob-like creation composed of highly durable, amorphous gel. He called it his Yellow Devil, and used it as a guard for the factory. It could not be controlled by one of Light's robots, and he'd bet his skull that it could beat any of them, but it would probably be damaged in the process. Its unique physiology meant that repairing it would be an extensive process, and he didn't want to leave himself without it defending him while Light could still send the surviving Robot Masters to hunt him down.

No, he'd need something else. But what?

He could feel something nagging at his mind. Light's robots...something about Light's robots...

He snapped his fingers and mentally reviewed the list of Robot Masters who were attacking. He had aided in their design, and thus knew the **D** octor **L** ight **N** umber each of them had been assigned during their creation (though really, they should have been given a DLWN, or even better, a DWLN).

_Cut Man. DLN-003._

_Guts Man. DLN-004._

_Ice Man. DLN-005._

_Bomb Man. DLN-006._

_Fire Man. DLN-007._

_Elec Man. DLN-008._

_Time Man. DLN-00A._

_Oil Man. DLN-00B._

That left DLN-001 and DLN-002 unaccounted for. Those were the ones Light used as personal assistants. He seemed to think of them as his children. He had even given them ludicrous musical-themed names. What were they? Hip and Hop, or something like that? There was a strong possibility that Light had taken them with him to his secret redoubt, but there was always a chance that, he had left them behind to guard Light Labs, or simply abandoned them due to their uselessness in battle.

He turned and hurried out of his communications center, down one of the factory's long corridors, toward the hangar. He had to get to Light Labs before the cops or military did.

Inside the hangar was another of his brilliant inventions, what he liked to call the Wily UFO. It was a small golden craft, essentially a one-man flying saucer. As he climbed inside and pulled the crimson canopy shut, instrument panels and monitors lit up. This was the fastest vehicle in the world (it had to be; no other vehicle had him as its designer), and he was sure it could get him to Light Labs before anyone else. And then, if he could find Light's "children," he could start to pry their creator's secrets from them.

By any means necessary.


	3. A Back Door To The Front Door

Getting into Light Labs was child's play. His old colleague had never realized he had encoded a master override into the lab's programming. He typed the password (56729459, or "LORDWILY") into the exterior keypad. The door hissed open and every defensive measure in the building shut down. He had beaten everyone else here. Now to see what he could salvage, and then get out before the authorities arrived.

On first glance, there wasn't much. It looked as if Light had taken almost everything in the place. The only thing of significance that had been left behind was the massive IBN supercomputer that took up most of one wall. He had to assume that it was too big for Light to transport. He would probably just rely on the computer's encryption and other security measures to keep its information safe; by the time someone from the government was able to break through, it would probably be too late to help them.

Of course, no one from the government had LORDWILY helping out, did they?

_-W-_

Dr. Wily had only managed to copy a few batches of files when he heard the rumblings of large, heavy vehicles outside. He cursed to himself; the military or police had arrived sooner than he'd expected. The computer spat out the disk it had just finished working with. Wily tossed it into the cardboard box he'd been throwing the others into, instituted immediate shutdown for the computer, grabbed the box, and ran.

He wasn't as young as he used to be, a fact which became apparent by the time he exited the lab. He was already having trouble breathing.

The sight of several armored vehicles pulling up near his Wily UFO didn't help, either.

He threw the box into the saucer, then jumped in after it with an agility he didn't believe he was still capable of. As he activated the autopilot and the canopy slid shut, he heard loud voices ordering him to stop and to come out with his hands up.

"I'm trying to save you, you fools," he muttered to himself as his craft took to the air. Granted, he was saving them so he could rule them himself, but that still counted, didn't it? He heard shots ring out, but they didn't concern him; he had armored this Wily UFO well enough to shrug off hits from anything less powerful than a plasma cannon.

The saucer accelerated, and Dr. Wily glanced down at the box full of disks. They had some of Dr. Light's secrets inside. He just hoped they were valuable ones.

_-W-_

Back in his Pacific factory, he sat at his control station. As he waited for the first of Light's disks to load, he checked on the status of his other ongoing project.

Some of the robots that he'd created here were acting as his guards, but most of them had been dispatched to a remote location in the Andes Mountains, secretly toiling away on one of the most momentous construction projects of all-time: Skull Castle. Once this business with Light was done, it was from here that he would rule the world, an impregnable fortress that no armed force could ever hope to take. It looked like the building was coming along very well. The outer wall was complete, the turrets were almost all installed, and the castle itself was quickly taking shape inside the perimeter.

His console beeped, and he reluctantly turned away from the beautiful sight of his future seat of power.

_All right, Thomas. Let's see which of your creations I can turn back on you._


	4. Construction And Destruction

Guts Man looked proudly around the cliffside construction site that he’d taken over. He had it completely secured. His gaze took in his subordinates. His Mets, his Picket Men, his flying saucer, his Bladers—

His flying saucer?

It was coming in fast and low, almost skimming the ground. It smashed through robots by the dozen without seeming to be adversely affected in the least. Finally it came to a halt, touching down on the ground, leaving smoking, shattered machinery behind it.

Guts Man growled. His strong legs propelled him through the air, and the ground shook as he landed in front of the saucer. “Hey!” he yelled. “Those were my workers! Who do you think you are, breaking them like that?!”

The canopy of the saucer opened, and he recognized the man inside. “Dr. Wily?” he asked, confused. He’d never met him before, but he was registered in his database. “Dr. Light’s former assistant?”

Wily bristled. “Yes, that’s right. His…assistant. I’m working with him again on his grand plan. Speaking of Thomas, what sort of project does he have you managing? Something important, I’m sure, anything else would be a waste of your talents.”

That seemed to perk the Robot Master up. “Oh, definitely! We’re building a factory here, to make weapons and more robots. Well, we would be if I had more than a few workers left,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“Sorry about that,” Wily replied. “I’m still getting used to flying this thing.”

“No p—hey, shouldn’t you know why I’m here?” Guts Man asked, suddenly wary.

“Oh, you know Thomas,” Wily said, waving his hand dismissively. “Always neglects the details. He’d lose his own beard if it wasn’t attached. He tells me to come see how you’re doing and then bustles off to do something else without even telling me what it is you’re doing.”

Guts Man, his suspicions dispelled, laughed loudly at the image of Dr. Light wandering around trying to find his misplaced facial hair. “Tell you what,” Dr. Wily continued, “Why don’t you give me a little tour? You lead the way and I’ll follow you in this thing. I’m afraid my legs aren’t what they used to be.”

The robot nodded and began walking around the construction site, pointing out a series of conveyor belts here, a tunnel sunk deep into the earth there. Dr. Wily followed just behind him in his saucer, the canopy still open, asking the occasional question. Guts Man led them to the edge of the cliff.

“Now, you can see we’re shoring up the edge,” he said, too caught up in showing off his work to notice that the doctor had closed his saucer. “That’s very important, the last thing we need is for everything to—”

Before he could finish the sentence, the craft suddenly lurched forward, striking Guts Man in the back and sending him bouncing down the cliffside. Dr. Wily opened the canopy and leaned out, shielding his eyes from the sun and looking down at the motionless Robot Master.

“Oops,” he said dryly.

_-W-_

The saucer was cramped with just him inside; there was no way the bulky robot would have fit as well. Fortunately, with Guts Man inactive, the few remaining robots that had been under his control were freed and accepting orders from humans again. Under the roboticist’s instruction, they rigged up a harness, allowing the Wily UFO to drag Guts Man behind it as it soared through the skies.

_Not the most elegant solution, nor the most aerodynamic,_ Wily thought as he returned to his Pacific stronghold, _But one that works._

Upon arrival, he sent Guts Man off to be repaired. Once he was fixed, he’d start poking around in his circuitry. Until then, he might as well take care of other business.

His first task was to check on the construction of Skull Castle. As far as he was concerned, that was the most important issue. Once it was complete, he would be ensconced in a place of absolute safety from which he could strike at even a victorious Light at will. He was pleased to see that it was coming along quite well. It might even finish ahead of schedule, regardless of what else was going on in the world.

Speaking of which…

Another communications scan revealed that the civil authorities hadn’t been able to make any headway against Light’s Robot Masters. He wondered when they’d realize that one of them had been taken out.

He wondered if _Light_ had realized it yet.

One of his consoles beeped. Guts Man was ready.


	5. The First Recruit

“Ah, I see you’re awake, Guts Man. How do you feel?”

The Robot Master opened his eyes. “Uhh…like I just had some nasty viruses purged…hey, where am I?”

“You’re in my repair shop,” Dr. Wily replied. He had Guts Man strung up with chains, limiting his mobility so he couldn’t use his prodigious strength to break free. “Do you remember how you got here?”

“The last thing I remember, I was giving you a tour of the construction site.”

“And what were you building there?” Dr. Wily asked smoothly, leaning back in his chair. He was seated behind a computer console.

“Robots and weapons, to help Dr. Light take…over…the…world.” Guts Man trailed off as he realized what he was saying. “Wait, why would I do that?”

“Because Thomas reprogrammed you. He disabled your Three Laws compliance, and I suspect he did the same with your friends. But I undid his changes and restored you to your normal self.” That was actually true. Dr. Wily had run a check of the burly robot’s circuits while he was inactive, and seen the modifications made to his code.

Guts Man narrowed his eyes. “But why would Dr. Light do that?”

“I have no idea,” Dr. Wily replied honestly. “He’s never struck me as the world domination type. But the why’s can wait for later. Right now, we have to stop him. He still at least has seven other robots holding the planet hostage. Will you help me?”

His finger hovered over a button as he waited for a response. He had written his own code to reprogram the Robot Masters. Just that morning he had been ready to insert it in them and make them obey _his_ orders. And in case Guts Man refused, he could press that button and infect him with it now. But he didn’t want to unless it was necessary.

There were two reasons for that. The first was simple pragmatism. If Guts Man was reprogrammed, but somehow got free of his control later, the chances of him persuading the robot to join his cause voluntarily would be slim to none. But on the other hand, if he talked him around, and then he became suspicious, why, he could always reprogram him then if need be.

The second reason was far less based in logic and more in base emotion. Yes, he had been going to reprogram them. But then Thomas had done the same thing. Now he wanted to prove—to Thomas, to the world, but most of all to himself—that he could win his own way, without having to resort to the same methods as the man who had somehow always bested him.

Now it was about pride.

“I will,” Guts Man said, and Dr. Wily pressed a different button instead. The chains retracted and freed him. The scientist stood up, and grinned.

“Then let’s get to work.”

_-W-_

Wily was seated in his communications center, Guts Man standing behind him, his powerful arms folded. They were watching reports from around the globe.

“As you can see,” the doctor said, “Cut Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, Time Man, and Oil Man are still at large. And of course, that leaves two unaccounted for.”

“Rock and Roll,” Guts Man grumbled. “I hope they’re OK.”

So _that_ was their names. It had been bothering him all day. “So do I,” he said gravely, putting a false air of sympathy in his voice. “But only Light knows where they are. Until we can track him down, we have to concentrate on freeing the cities the other seven have taken hostage. You know them better than I do. Who do you think we should we go after first?”

Guts Man scratched his large chin in thought. “Well, if you want my opinion, I think we should go after Cut Man. I doubt those little scissors of his can do much to scratch this manly bod of mine.”

Although inwardly Dr. Wily rolled his eyes, he had to admit the reasoning made sense. “All right. My UFO should be done refueling by now. Though I’m afraid you’ll have to ride on the outside again.”

The robot grimaced. “Well, I guess if I have to. Uh, hey Doc?”

“Yes?”

“You got some music I can listen to on the way?”


	6. Hunter And Prey

Outsmarting Guts Man had been simplicity itself. But such a gambit was unlikely to succeed again. With the brawny Robot Master MIA, Thomas had almost certainly warned the other seven to be on their guard.

But that was all right. After all, he was Dr. Albert W. Wily. If there was one thing he had a natural talent for…well, it was robotics. But if there was a second thing, it was scheming.

_-W-_

Cut Man pulled the Rolling Cutter off his head, fiddling absently with the large pair of blades. Dr. Light had told him that Guts Man may have been taken out, and to be on the lookout for intruders. Now he was scouting. Peering nervously around the corner, he saw the smashed remains of an Octopus Battery. Gulping, he sprinted from the cover of one green brick building to another. He wasn’t normally this skittish, but normally he wasn’t hunting for something that could defeat Guts Man, either.

With all the city’s residents confined indoors, it was quiet. And finding the occasional broken robot didn’t help his confidence. It was so spooky—

There was a loud smash. He whirled, trying to see everywhere at once. In this maze of buildings, it was almost impossible to tell where the sound was coming from. He edged out into an open plaza, sacrificing cover for vision. “Come on out and face me!” he called, trying to project an air of bravery. Even he had to admit he wasn’t very successful.

After a moment, he heard footsteps. Turning, he saw a man step out into the other side of the plaza to face him. Cut Man blinked. This man was in his database. “Dr. Wily?” the Robot Master asked, puzzled.

“That’s right,” the scientist replied, a faint, inscrutable smile on his face. “Why don’t you give up and end help me end Light’s ludicrous rebellion?”

Cut Man’s eyes narrowed. He held the Rolling Cutter in one upraised hand. “You took out Guts Man, didn’t you? I’ve been ordered to cut off any trouble at the source!”

Dr. Wily didn’t respond. Instead, he turned his head to one side, looking down one of the alleyways and nodding. Cut Man turned to look as well. The last thing he saw before going offline was Guts Man hurling a huge chunk of bricks at him.

_-W-_

Dr. Wily nodded in satisfaction. Upon arrival, he’d directed Guts Man to simply start rampaging loudly and destroying any robot he saw. Based upon what the Robot Master had told him of Cut Man’s childish, curious nature, he expected that would draw him out from his lair to investigate, and he had been right. Of course, he was always right.

Guts Man walked up next to him. All that was visible of Cut Man from under the pile of green bricks was the Rolling Cutter and part of one foot. “A commendable job. Perhaps more force than was strictly necessary, but I suppose better safe than sorry.”

Guts Man grunted, and smacked his fist into his palm. “Told ya he couldn’t handle me,” he said proudly. “What next?”

“We need to get back to my base, so I can free him from his re-programming like I freed you. I’m not sure if he’ll fit in my UFO…think you can hold onto him for the whole trip back?”

He rested his hand on his chest, feigning wounded pride. “Aw, Doc, remember who you’re talkin’ to here! I could hold the entire bunch without stressin’ my servos.”

_Yes, your strength is useful,_ Dr. Wily thought as he watched Guts Man pull the other robot free from the brick. _Perhaps when I rule the world, I’ll have half-a-dozen or so of you as my bodyguards. Gold-plated, I think, for that regal touch._


	7. Double Trouble

Dr. Wily surveyed his impromptu troops with pride. _Well, Thomas, you sent eight Robot Masters out to take over the world, and now all eight of them are working for me. Who would you say is the better genius?_

Granted, some victories had been more difficult than others…

- _W_ -

_“What’s the matter, Doc?” Bomb Man taunted. “Dr. Light warned me someone might crash my party, and now you don’t want to stick around for all the fun?”_

_Dr. Wily and Cut Man were taking cover behind one of the monitoring towers at the experimental weather station that Bomb Man had taken over. The scientist was leaning against it, catching his breath. “If this…explosion-happy…buffoon kills us…”_

_“I said I was sorry!” Cut Man apologized. “I didn’t think he’d take us by surprise, and I panicked!”_

_“Well, you’ve had time to adapt now, so get out there!”_

_“Eep!” Wily shoved Cut Man back out into the open, then peered around the tower to watch. Bomb Man was smiling nastily and bouncing a Hyper Bomb in his hand. He leaned back to throw it, but before he could, Cut Man hurled his own weapon. The Rolling Cutter sliced the bomb in two, its incendiary innards spilling to the ground._

_Bomb Man created two more Hyper Bombs, but those got cut in half as well. This pattern repeated for several cycles, until a pile of bifurcated bombs reached up almost to the Robot Master’s waist._

_“Man, you sure know how to ruin a party!” Bomb Man said in a distinctly peeved tone of voice, stomping his foot for good measure. Suddenly, Dr. Wily found inspiration._

_“Cut Man!” he called out in a stage whisper, trying to discreetly get his attention. “His feet! Throw along the ground towards his feet!”_

_Cut Man nodded, and tossed his Rolling Cutter low. The lower of the blades scraped along the metallic ground as they flew toward the pile of flammable material…_

_…kicking up sparks._

_Bomb Man’s eyes widened. Dr. Wily ducked back behind the tower, and Cut Man dove away._

_When the smoke cleared, Bomb Man was sprawled on the ground. He was severely damaged, but didn’t appear to be beyond repair._

_As Cut Man rubbed the soot off himself, Dr. Wily nodded. “Just as planned, of course.”_

_-W-_

“So none of you have any idea why Dr. Light decided to take over the world?” Dr. Wily asked.

Seven of them shook their heads. One of them, however, looked thoughtful.

“Well, sir, there _may_ be something,” Time Man replied. As the final robot to be recruited, the scientist hadn’t had the opportunity to question him like he had his ‘brothers.’ “The night before all this started, the doctor told me to let him sleep in an extra half-hour the next morning, because he was going to stay up late to run preliminary tests on a strange new sample. And…he said he didn’t know where it had come from, he had just found it sitting in his lab. The next time I saw him after that, he was reprogramming us.”

“A strange new sample that he just found sitting in his lab…” Dr. Wily repeated, frowning. How could that lead to the kindly scientist suddenly developing an interest in global domination? On the other hand, that was the only known variable, so he’d be a fool to dismiss any connection out of hand.

“Well, we’ll have to figure that out later. All of you, come with me! It’s time for the next stage of my brilliant plan!”

- _W_ -

“Hello, world! I am Dr. Albert W. Wily, the world’s greatest scientist, and I bring you good news! You’re free! Behold!”

He was standing in his communications center, broadcasting worldwide like he had planned to do before Thomas had yanked the rug out of from under him. He gestured, and the robots filed into the room, taking up position behind him. “I have liberated Dr. Light’s Robot Masters from his reprogramming, and now they stand with me to thwart his evil designs! All that remains is to track him down and apprehend him!”

He ended his broadcast and held his breath. The bait had been placed. A second passed. Then two. And then—

Dr. Light’s bearded visage filled all the surrounding monitors; another global broadcast. He was grinning unpleasantly. “Ah, Albert! I thought it was probably you who were making my robots disappear! You’re such a worthy competitor! But don’t forget, you always come in _second place_.”

Dr. Wily drew up straight, his spine as stiff as a rod, and the other Robot Masters simultaneously took a step backwards as they waited for the explosion. But it didn’t come. He simply muttered in an icy tone, “Say what you will, Thomas. But with every word, I come closer to paying you a visit.” He glanced over at the supercomputers, which were busy tracing the transmission in order to pinpoint his rival’s location.

“You see, I’ve traced your transmission, pinpointed your location, and I’m coming to pay you a visit,” Dr. Light continued.

Wily froze.

“I’m going to take over your base, and use its resources to restart my conquest of the world. And I’m not alone. I’m bringing my children with me. Rock and Roll, remember them? Or as I call them since I’ve improved them…”

He leaned away from the camera, and now Wily—and the entire world—could see that standing behind him, blank expressions on their faces, were two figures. They looked like a human boy and girl, but their form-fitting suits of armor—the boy’s was blue, the girl’s was pink—identified them as robots.

“…MEGA MAN AND MEGA WOMAN!”

Light’s grin grew even wider.

“See you soon, Albert.”

The transmission ended, and there was silence for a moment. Then Dr. Wily turned around to face the Robot Masters, his face as white as his labcoat.

“Well, he said quietly, his mouth dry, “They say no plan survives contact with the enemy.”

He took a deep breath. “Battle stations!”

- _W_ -

“ _See you soon, Albert._ ”

“No! I’m too late!” A troubled frown crossed the visitor’s face. He had been hoping to put a stop to this before it could get out of control, but he had missed that chance. Now all he could do was mitigate the damage.

Could he beat Dr. Light to Wily’s base in the middle of the Pacific? He didn’t know, but he had to make his way there at top speed.

It was the only chance.


	8. Improvised Infiltration

When they arrived, it was as two beams of light: one blue, one pink. Fortunately, Dr. Wily’s factory was surrounded by an energy field that prevented direct teleportation (chalk another one up to his incredible genius). Instead, they materialized on the grounds about a kilometer away from the entrance. He watched via security camera. They could easily be mistaken for human children, if not for the battle armor they wore.

_THESE are Thomas’s aces? They don’t look that impressive._ Rock and Roll had been designed for tool use and domestic chores, respectively, so he hadn’t bothered to make them part of his plans for world conquest. He doubted they would be much more dangerous as Mega Man and Mega Woman. _I was worried for nothing. They probably won’t even make it to the entrance._

The first obstacle was a trio of Big Eye units, huge cyclopean robots that used powerful pneumatics to jump from place to place, attempting to crush trespassers. Strong and durable, they were some of the most deadly robots he possessed. And they had already locked on to their targets.

He leaned forward in his chair as the Big Eyes advanced in large, ground-shaking stomps. The first one took an extra-large jump, ready to crush Mega Man and Mega Woman—

—who simply ran under it. They turned around and fired some kind of energy blasts at the back of its head. Dr. Wily frowned. _Did Thomas install arm cannons?_

After several shots from each of them, the Big Eye’s upper half exploded, and it collapsed. They repeated the same tactic against the second and third Big Eyes when they, too, jumped extra-high.

Wily smacked his forehead. He knew he should have given those things more advanced programming.

_-W-_

“All right, so you made it to the entrance,” he muttered. “But you won’t make it inside!”

Five massive metallic cubes blocked the entryway. They would only move aside to admit someone who transmitted the proper passcode. Mega Woman and Mega Man fired their arm cannons at them, but the energy dissipated without visible effect. Wily couldn’t resist gloating, and he activated the loudspeakers in the area.

“Those blocks are almost impervious to energy weapons! If you had Elec Man, his Thunder Beam might be able to short out their circuitry and make them retract. Or maybe Guts Man could use his raw strength to punch through them or rip them out. But you don’t have either of them on your side anymore, so I’m afraid you’re stuck out there! Mwa ha ha!”

He turned off the speaker, deciding to watch them waste their energy for a while longer before sending out his forces to end this. The robots stared at one another, talked for a moment, then turned and walked away. _Surely they’re not giving up so soon?_ But no; they stopped and began fiddling with the remains of the nearest Big Eye. Its head was ruined, but its bottom half was more or less intact. _What are they doing?_

After a few moments, they had disconnected the pneumatics and crusher from the rest of the robot. Together, they carried it back to the entrance and placed the crusher against the first block. Mega Woman held it in place while Mega Man tinkered with the pneumatics.

Suddenly they started pumping again, slamming the base into the block over and over. The Mega twins were obviously straining, but they managed to keep hold of the Big Eye remains as they kept pounding away.

In a flash, Wily realized their plan. They were using the pneumatics as a giant improvised jackhammer. He had mentioned Guts Man punching through, and now they were using the crusher to mimic his strength.

Sure enough, before long they had perforated the block. They adjusted the crusher, enlarging the hole further, then carried the Big Eye remains inside, doubtless to repeat the process on the rest of the blocks.

He growled. Obviously Rock’s knack for tool using was still in there, even under whatever extra programming Thomas had installed to make him a warrior.

_-W-_

“All right, so you made it inside,” he muttered. “But you won’t make it _up_!”

His next few lines of defense—fire pillars, tiny bouncing robots called Fleas, spike pits, and Foot Holder flying platform robots—hadn’t slowed them down much, but by this point he wasn’t expecting them to. He was starting to develop a grudging respect for Thomas’s “children.”

But this next obstacle would stump them, he knew it. It was brilliant in its simplicity.

They had reached a small room. In front of them was a wall that stretched upward about 25 feet. On the other side of it was another wall, hanging from the ceiling. And behind that wall, not visible from where they were standing, the ladder that led upwards into the next room hung from the ceiling, also about 25 feet off the floor. They would have to scale the first wall, fall two dozen feet or so, walk under the second wall, and then make it to the ladder.

But neither wall had anything they could grip onto that would allow them to climb. Another passcode would make the walls retract and the ladder lower, but they didn’t have that code either. The twins couldn’t fly or hover, and they couldn’t jump anywhere near that high.

If they could create temporary platforms made of semi-solid energy, they could use those to clear the first wall and reach the ladder, but to do that would require a Magnet Beam. And Magnet Beams were rare; there was only one whose location he knew of. It had been in the territory that Elec Man had taken over, and he had made sure to retrieve it during his trip there. If he didn’t know where any others were, surely Dr. Light didn’t either.

There was no way they could make it through this room. He was sure of it.

He started to taunt them via loudspeaker again, then thought better of it. They had only made it inside because he had given them an inadvertent hint. He wouldn’t be undone by his own brilliance again.

The two robots examined the wall and talked for a minute; Wily wished he could hear what they were saying. Then they descended the ladder back into the previous room, which contained a large pit of spikes. Above the pit, several Foot Holders flew in semi-random patterns, occasionally firing a weak energy blast. They jumped on a Foot Holder, just as they had done to cross the pit in the first place. Wily furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what they were trying to do. _Surely they haven’t just decided to leave, have they?_

The flying platform began to slowly sink under their combined weight; a Foot Holder could easily handle one of them at a time, but not both. They shifted and moved around, guiding its descent, forcing it over to the ladder they had just descended. Mega Man jumped back onto the ladder and started to climb, while Mega Woman stayed onboard the Foot Holder, which began to rise again now that its load had been lightened. Whenever its movements took it away from the ladder, Mega Man jumped back on so they could steer it back.

Soon it reached the top of the ladder, and began to ascend into the next room, its sides scraping the walls as it did so. It seemed like it might get stuck, but with a little prodding from the twins, it made it through.

Wily could only watch in silent amazement at what happened next. Mega Man and Mega Woman began to jump in an alternating pattern, one leaping as the other landed, so that only one of them was ever on the Foot Holder at one time. By carefully managing their weight like this, they kept it rising. It was a slow ascent, but it was an ascent nonetheless.

And then they were over the first wall.

Now both of them stood on it together, guiding it under the wall that hung from the ceiling. Then they repeated their jumping trick, until the Foot Holder had risen high enough that they could grab onto the ladder leading up into the next room.

Dr. Wily scowled, but found himself clapping slowly.

_-W-_

“All right, so you made it up,” he muttered, “But you won’t make it past my Yellow Devil!”

Formed of a mutable shape-memory polymer that allowed it to separate into multiple pieces and merge again, controlled by a core that acted as both visual sensor and laser cannon, the Yellow Devil was his most formidable creation.

The twins stepped into a large, dimly-lit room. Once both were fully inside, a thick metal gate slammed down behind them, and several hatches opened on the wall. Large globs of yellow-orange polymer oozed out of the hatches and flew across the room. Along the way, several of them smacked into Mega Man and Mega Woman, knocking them to the floor.

The globs flowed together, coalescing into a roughly 20-foot tall humanoid, glaring balefully down at the intruders with one glowing red eye.

Leaning in closer to the monitors, Dr. Wily grinned. This should be _fun_.


	9. Stand Or Fall

It had not, in fact, been fun.

Oh, it had been at first, when it looked as if the Yellow Devil would be the obstacle that would finally prevent Mega Man and Mega Woman from proceeding any further. Wily had grinned deviously as they had been battered by the flying polymer chunks and barely dodged the optical laser.

Unfortunately, Light’s children had once again demonstrated their knack for improvisation and learning. They had quickly realized that the globs of Yellow Devil always moved in the same pattern. Soon they were avoiding them easily. Then they adopted a strategy: one of them would let the Yellow Devil focus on them, firing a shot from its laser. Meanwhile, the other one would concentrate fire on its exposed eye. After only a few cycles of this, the core exploded, scattering polymer everywhere.

Wily scowled, cursing himself for giving his guardian such a primitive AI.

_-W-_

He had other defenses, but in his heart, the doctor knew they would prove ineffective. Rock and Roll made their way to a room where any robot could be quickly scanned and duplicated, with the copy loaded with an AI loyal to Wily. Unfortunately, as Rock was being scanned, Roll pushed him out of the way, and the strange data caused by trying to examine two robots simultaneously caused the program to crash and the machine to short-circuit.

After that, they penetrated the factory’s pipes and encountered the seven **C** lean **W** ater **U** nits (Model 01P) that Dr. Wily had tweaked to act as a defense system. But as they were dispensed one at a time, the CWU-01Ps hadn’t lasted very long against dual streams of arm cannon fire.

At that point, as the twins closed in on where the Robot Masters were waiting, the doctor retreated to his construction bay. He hoped that the robots he had freed from Light’s control would prove enough to stop them, but if they weren’t…better to be safe.

_-W-_

As he hurriedly threw together a makeshift war chariot, he occasionally glanced up at the security monitors that displayed the Robot Masters’ battle stations. As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn’t terribly surprised to see them fall one by one.

What he _was_ surprised to see was what happened afterwards.

As Cut Man collapsed, offline, Rock and Roll knelt beside him and touched his unconscious body for a moment. Then, as they battled Elec Man, they changed colors, becoming gray and white, and started hurling Rolling Cutters. Wily’s blood went as cold as the Ice Slasher.

_Variable Weapon Systems?! Thomas gave them both Variable Weapon Systems?!_

The armor that he had outfitted his improvised “Wily Machine” with should provide more than adequate protection against the plasma-compressed bullets of solar energy that the twins’ arm cannons seemed to fire. But he didn’t have the time to test how it could stand up against the arsenal of all the other Robot Masters. He shook his head and got back to work. Too late to worry about it now.

As he was finishing up, one of the computer consoles set in the wall beeped. He looked up and saw a notification from his construction robots. Work on Skull Castle had been completed. He scowled. Of course it had been finished too late to flee there. That was his luck.

_-W-_

When they finally arrived at the heart of the factory, the battle went well at first. As predicted, their arm cannons inflicted only negligible damage. And despite his limited piloting skills, and the fact that the cockpit was protected by an opaque shield which forced him to rely on externally fitted cameras for visual observation, he was still able to strike them with several shots fired from the front-mounted energy cannon. They started using the various weapons they had taken from the Robot Masters, and those weren’t causing much harm either. Wily smirked. _I was worrying for nothing. I have this in the bag._

And then Mega Woman tried using Fire Man’s Fire Storm, and the Wily Machine’s energy cannon started to overheat and spark. Mega Man joined in the fiery assault, and soon the cannon exploded. The force of the blast ripped the shield away from his cockpit, and large spheres of energy discharged from the hole where the cannon had been, spiraling uncontrolled. Rock and Roll dodged them almost lazily, and concentrated their attacks on a spot just under the cockpit.

Even as he frantically tried to re-orient the Wily Machine, desperately trying to strike them with the spiraling orbs, in the back of his mind he wondered why they weren’t aiming for the cockpit directly. Then he realized that with the shield gone, the energy regulator had been exposed. If they destroyed that, and the Machine’s energy ran wild—

He triggered the ejection seat just as the explosions started. He escaped safely, but landed roughly on the hard concrete floor. Dark spots danced in front of his eyes.

And then he was staring glumly at the burning remains of his last hope, as he was dragged away by strong robotic hands.

_-W-_

Dr. Light had arrived at the entrance of the manufacturing plant, and was examining one of the smashed Big Eyes when the twins returned, still hauling their unwilling cargo.

“Ah, Albert,” Light said, turning towards Dr. Wily with a wicked glint in his eye. “You have resisted valiantly and brilliantly, but in the end, you lost, as you inevitably would. Against me, you’ve _always_ lost.” Rock and Roll pulled Wily to his feet, then released him. As he regained his balance, they flanked their creator.

“But I’m not completely without mercy,” Light continued, smirking. “I’ll let you live as my prisoner. Why, you can even be my advisor of sorts as I rule the world. I’ll always be able to rely on you as an example of what _not_ to do. All you have to do is get on your hands and knees, and beg for my forgiveness.”

Wily’s legs were already weak, and he could feel them start to bend as self-preservation kicked in.

_No. NO!_

The intensity of the sudden thought surprised even him, a surge of vigor flowing through his body. If he had launched his own world conquest attempt and failed, then he could accept sacrificing his pride to save his skin. But in this case? When he had done nothing wrong, when he had tried to play the role of savior?

If this was the only victory he could score in this contest, then so be it.

He straightened up, his spine stiffened. He dusted himself off, folded his arms behind his back, and fixed Light with the steeliest look he could muster.

“Dr. Albert W. Wily bows to no one.” _Not bad, as last words go_ , some illogical part of his brain thought giddily. Light looked at him for a moment. What emotion was that on his face? Pity? Respect? Contempt? Then he shrugged and turned, beginning to walk away.

“As you wish, Albert. Children? Dispose of him.” Wily clenched his eyes shut. His heart pounded so hard, it felt like it was going to burst as he waited for the end.

There was the sound of an energy discharge, but no pain. Nothing changed; no darkness, no otherworldly judge, no pearly gates or sulfurous flames. Instead, there was an explosion that sounded as if it had come from in front of him. He risked opening his eyes.

Mega Man and Mega Woman sprawled in the middle of a new crater in the ground. Light was gazing upwards, his jaw wide with astonishment. Racing towards them from the sky was what appeared to be a red robot dog. Its body was transformed into an aerodynamic configuration, rocket exhaust issuing from the back. And riding the dog like a surfboard, his arm transformed into a cannon, worry and determination on his face—

_Another Mega Man?!_


	10. Conversation, Part I

Dr. Wily stared in shock as the robodog landed. “Good boy, Rush,” the second Mega Man said, giving him a pat. As the dog barked happily, his master leaned over and examined the figures in the crater. “Not too badly damaged,” he said, and seemed to relax. He glanced briefly at Wily, then strode over to Dr. Light, who still seemed unable to form words.

“Sorry, Doctor, but this is for your own good.” Most of Mega Man’s armor abruptly changed color, becoming bright red, only a few bits of blue remaining. He raised his left hand. Sky blue energy covered it like a flame, before flaring out to envelop Dr. Light’s entire body. A few seconds later, the energy faded, and the scientist began to collapse, unconscious. Mega Man caught him before he could hit the ground, and looked over at Wily.

“Do you have an infirmary or anything here?” he asked, changing back to his original colors as he did so. Wily nodded, still rather dumbstruck. “Good. Lead me there. And have some of your robots take my sister and…er…myself to get repaired. Then I’ll explain everything.”

_-W-_

Rock, Roll, and the other Robot Masters had been moved to the repair bay, all of them still offline and waiting to get fixed. Mega Man had carefully laid Dr. Light on a bed in the infirmary and pulled a blanket over him. A medibot did some scans; he was in fine health, but exhausted, and would probably be sleeping for quite some time. Upon hearing that, a lot of the tension visibly left Mega Man’s face, and as they sat down at a small table together, even Wily was struck by how human he seemed; if he hadn’t already known, he never would have thought this was a robot in front of him.

“All right,” Mega Man said after a second. “I’m from several years in the future. Well, now that I’ve come back here, it’s technically the future of an alternate timeline.” Oddly, Wily wasn’t terribly surprised. The Chronos Institute _was_ researching time travel, after all, so who was to say it wouldn’t pay off one day?

“Anyway, there’s something called Evil Energy. It—”

“Evil Energy?” Wily repeated incredulously. “What sort of name is that?”

Mega Man actually rolled his eyes. “Look, I didn’t come up with the name. It comes from space, and it causes people—humans and robots both—to become overwhelmed by rage, greed, jealousy…all the worst emotions. An alien robot called Duo let me copy his ability to purify and destroy it.”

“That blue flame.” By this point, the mention of an alien robot barely fazed him.

“Yeah. Well, recently, some more Evil Energy came to Earth. Luckily, Dr. Light was able to find and contain it before it could affect anyone. He wanted to run some experiments to see if there was any other way to destroy it or help anyone corrupted by it. One of the experiments he attempted was asking Time Man to try and use his Time Slow ability on it. I guess he wanted to see if he could slow the process of infection. But when Time Man tried, there was some kind of unexpected reaction, and the Evil Energy just vanished.”

“Into the past!” Wily exclaimed, snapping his fingers. All the pieces were falling into place now. “Time Man, the Time Man here and now, said that an unknown substance just appeared in Thomas’s lab! He didn’t know how it got there but he decided to stay up late to study it. And the next day, out of nowhere, he tries to conquer the world.”

“The Dr. Light of this time wouldn’t have even heard of Evil Energy, much less know what it could do or how to contain it. It would have been able to infect him. Everyone has _some_ darkness in them, even…even him.” For just a moment, Mega Man seemed haunted. “Fortunately, the Dr. Light in my time was able to track the Evil Energy’s path back into the past. But the trace was a bit imprecise, so when I arrived, it was too late. You’d already freed the others. Luckily, I was able to get here just in time.”

Wily shot him an inquisitive glance. “I just realized something. How did you know to come here? Thomas’s supercomputers were able to track my broadcast, but you…”

For several seconds, Mega Man looked away. Then he met Wily’s gaze again. “Because I’ve been here before. This is where you were on this day back in my timeline. When I stopped you from taking over the world.”

Wily slumped onto the table. “…Oh.” _I should have realized._

Mega Man sighed. “That’s why I became a fighting robot in the first place. You reprogrammed the others, so I asked Dr. Light to rebuild me.”

“And your sister too.”

“No, Roll’s never been remodeled for combat like that. It was…strange, seeing her that way when I got here.”

_He won WITHOUT his sister’s help?_ Despite what else he’d just learned, Wily was impressed. “So what happened after you stopped me?”

“No one had gotten killed, thankfully. No one really even got seriously injured. You were able to plead temporary insanity and get off the hook. And then you tried again. And again. And again.”

“…How many times?”

Mega Man told him. Wily had to grab the table to keep from sinking out of his chair. “That many,” he whispered. _Did I ever succeed?_ But the look on the boy robot’s face answered that question without him even having to ask it. He ran his hands through his tufts of hair. “Second best. Always second best. I can’t ever win.”

To his astonishment, Mega Man rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You won today.”

He laughed bitterly. “Won? How did I win? If it wasn’t for you, I would have died.”

“So you needed a little help. Everyone does now and then; I’m no exception. But you freed all the other Robot Masters. You forced Dr. Light to devote all his resources to fighting you. And you beat _yourself_.”

“I did what?”

“The Dr. Wily I’ve fought, pretty much every time I’ve beaten him, he gets down and begs for mercy. But when I got here on Rush, while I was getting close enough to take a proper shot, I saw and heard what happened. You refused to beg. You decided to stand up for yourself. For everyone. You could be a hero.”

Wily laughed again, but there wasn’t as much bitterness in it this time. “I’m no hero.”

“The world says differently. I was monitoring broadcasts on the way here. Just like in my timeline, no one’s died. And people have been rooting for you.”

The scientist sat up slowly. “Rooting for me?” he asked disbelievingly. With everything that had happened, he had completely forgotten that he had made a worldwide transmission proclaiming that he was going to save them all from Dr. Light.

Mega Man nodded, and even smiled a little. “Some of them are even calling you Earth’s only hope. I’m sure they’re all worrying how you’re doing. Let’s go to your communications center. It’s probably time to end the suspense.”

_-W-_

“Hello everyone, this is Dr. Albert W. Wily again, and I bring you good news! Dr. Light’s attempt at world conquest has ended; you are all safe! But I must ask you, do not hold Thomas’s recent actions against him. He was not in control of himself! He was performing another of his many experiments to make the world a better place, but something went wrong and his mind was poisoned by strange energy. Fortunately, I have managed to purge it from his system. He is sleeping, but when he awakens, he’ll be back to his old benevolent self. My press conference tomorrow will explain further; I’ll tell you later when and where exactly it will be. But for now, farewell!”

He ended the broadcast, and looked over at Mega Man, standing at the other end of the communications center. The robot gave him a grin and a thumbs up.

“Sounded great! And it was pretty much the truth, too.” They had agreed that mentioning the whole time travel issue would raise too many questions. Wily opened his mouth to reply, but yawned loudly instead. Mega Man’s smile faded, replaced by a slightly worried frown. “Doctor, you really should get some sleep.”

“Yes, I suppose that would be a good idea.” He’d barely rested at all in more than twenty-four hours. Back in their university days, he and Thomas could stay awake twice that long while they got absorbed in a project; but as much as he hated to admit it, much of that youthful energy had sapped away over the years, and during this crisis he’d been relying on adrenaline, anger, fear, and lots of caffeine to keep him going.

He made his way towards his living quarters, half-asleep on his feet, not noticing Mega Man watching him thoughtfully.


	11. Conversation, Part II

The next evening, wearing his best suit, cleanest lab coat, and favorite skull-shaped cufflinks, Dr. Wily strode out of his factory and was immediately besieged by questions from dozens of reporters and several officials from the world government. He held up his hands, and after a few seconds the noise died away.

“To begin with,” he said, microphones picking up his every word, “I wish to thank everyone around the world for the support they’ve shown me during this recent crisis. It was more than I’d ever expected…”

_-W-_

Mega Man watched the press conference from the factory’s communication center as Wily presented the carefully edited version of the truth they had agreed to earlier, with the occasional heroic platitude thrown in. The crowd seemed spellbound, and he had to admit that both here and in his home timeline, Wily could certainly be charismatic.

Wily. What was he going to do about Wily?

_-W-_

Wily fielded a few easy questions from the reporters, before finally dismissing them so he could invite the governmental representatives inside. He led them to the factory’s small cafeteria, where they all took seats around a table.

They decided to discuss smaller matters first. For his heroic actions, Wily’s hometown had chosen to rename itself in his honor. To say he was thrilled was an understatement. _Did YOU get to rename a city, Thomas? Ha!_

One of the officials had produced some paperwork. “The city council’s already voted to go along with whatever name you pick. So, what’ll it be? Wily City? Wilyburg? Albertville?”

“Monsteropolis,” Wily replied immediately.

They looked at him, perplexed, and he shrugged. “It’s a name I’ve liked the sound of since I was a child. Genius is allowed to be eccentric.”

“…All right, Monsteropolis it is,” the official replied slowly, filling out the paperwork.

_-W-_

The next order of business was what to do with Dr. Light.

“I stand by what I said before,” Wily said irritably. “Thomas should not be held responsible for his actions. His mind was affected when an experiment went wrong. It was completely unforeseeable and unintended and he—”

“Calm yourself, Doctor,” another of the officials said. “We agree with you. We have no intention of tossing him in prison. All we want to do is help him. You said he’s been unconscious since you were able to undo the effects?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Wily replied, relaxing somewhat. “He’s being watched over by medibots in my infirmary.”

“We’ll make arrangements for him to get the best care.”

“See that you do.”

“What about Mega Man and Mega Woman? Where are they?”

“In my repair bay, offline like the rest of the Robot Masters. Tomorrow I’ll undo whatever Thomas did to their programming.”

“What about their upgrades?”

“Hm?”

“According to our information, Rock and Roll were originally just meant to help out around Dr. Light’s home and lab. The weapons and armor are new, aren’t they?”

“Ah, yes. To be honest, I hadn’t thought about that.” Given the way they’d torn through his factory’s defenses, to say nothing of the other Robot Masters, he was sorely tempted to leave them as they were and use them as _his_ loyal enforcers. But the Mega Man from the future almost certainly wouldn’t take kindly to that, and Wily didn’t want to antagonize him.

_-W-_

The final governmental representative spoke up. “One last thing, Doctor, but we believe we’ve saved the best for last. Although this emergency has passed, the Secretary General is concerned about other potential crises involving robots. She’s already authorized the creation of a department specifically authorized to handle situations like this, anywhere on the globe. And she’d like you to be in charge of it.”

Wily inhaled sharply. “Me?” he whispered.

“That’s correct. You are, after all, one of the world’s foremost roboticists, and an acknowledged expert in many other scientific fields as well. Your actions over the last few days have shown a knack for strategy, tactics, and improvisation. And to be frank, you’ve become a hero to the whole world. Law enforcement, scientists, the military…everyone would be jumping at the chance to work for you. What do you say?”

Wily abruptly rose from the table. He suddenly felt lightheaded. “This is….give me a few minutes to think about it, if you will.”

_-W-_

“I’m a little surprised how much you defended my father.”

Dr. Wily snapped his head up. He’d exited the cafeteria and had been pacing up and down the hallway, staring at the floor as his brain whirled at speeds even he was unaccustomed to. Now he saw the future Mega Man standing in front of him, and realized he must have been eavesdropping over the security system.

“Why?”

“Well, a few years ago, the version of you I’m familiar with _did_ get him sent to prison briefly by framing him for an attack.”

Wily felt his heart plunge into his stomach. _I could sink THAT_ _low?_ “Yes, well, be that as it may, Thomas was my friend and partner. We may have had our…differences, but I wanted to prove who was smarter, not make him suffer just for the sake of it.”

Mega Man just stared at him for a second. Then he said, “Take the job. I think it’d be the best thing you could do.”

Now it was Wily’s turn to stare, and Mega Man kept talking. Babbling, really. “I mean, this is what you’ve always wanted, right? Recognition of your brilliance. They offered this to you, not Dr. Light. And maybe it’s not _ruling_ the world, but you’re definitely strongly _influencing_ it, in a good way. And instead of people being terrified of you, they’ll be admiring of you. And if you still really want to make someone afraid of you, there’ll be criminals you can go after, even in my timeline you aren’t the only one using robots to break the law.”

When he finally stopped, Wily waited a moment before replying. “How can _you_ , of all people, trust me? After all the times you fought my counterpart?”

“Like I said yesterday, you’re already acting like a better person. I think you can keep walking down that path. And besides, in case you’re thinking about using your position to try and take over the world after I’ve left…well, don’t forget, I _can_ travel back here again to check on things. I may have my father’s optimism, but I don’t think I’m quite _that_ trusting.”

And he smiled.

_-W-_

Dr. Wily returned to the cafeteria. “I’ll take the job! But I have…conditions.”


	12. Farewells And New Beginnings

The next morning, Wily repaired the Robot Masters. He saved Mega Man and Mega Woman for last, undoing the changes the infected Dr. Light had done to their programming. He also removed their weapons and armor, restoring them to ordinary Rock and Roll. (Though not before taking careful notes on their capabilities. Just in case.)

Light had awoken not long after, remembering nothing since examining the mysterious sample that had appeared in his lab. Wily had given him the same edited story he’d given the world, then arranged for the global government to take custody of him and transfer him to a hospital for observation, the Robot Masters going with their “father.”

Wily was rather proud of himself; he’d barely done any passive-aggressive gloating.

_-W-_

The Mega Man from the future was ready to leave. He and Wily were standing in front of the factory, Rush at their side.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on the news and they’re still talking about what a hero you are,” Mega Man said. “In my timeline, you’re on the news all the time, but there the headlines are usually ‘Dr. Wily Launches Lunatic Plot’ or something like that. The world loves you. Please don’t disappoint them.”

He instructed Rush to convert to his jet form, then hopped on. “I’ll be back at some point to check on things. Don’t disappoint _me_ , either,” he said, giving Wily a meaningful look.

Then he flew off on Rush, flickering and vanishing in midair as they returned to their home timeline.

And Dr. Wily was alone, gazing up into the sky.

_-W-_

It had been two weeks.

The global government had officially created the **D** epartment of **R** obot **C** rimes and **I** ncidents, appointing him in charge. _Director Wily. It’s no Lord Wily, but I could get used to it._

He was seated behind his desk at his office in Skull Castle. Headquartering the department there had been his first condition for employment. They had agreed, though they had been curious as to why he had built a technologically advanced castle (“just in case something like Light’s uprising happened”) and why it was shaped like a skull (“remember, genius is allowed to be eccentric”).

His other condition had been that he be given funding to design and construct his own series of Robot Masters, which is what he was working on now. They would serve as the DRCI’s elite officers, performing rescues and apprehending criminals. Of course, they would be programmed so his commands would override anyone else’s, to make sure no criminals could use them for nefarious purposes.

He grinned as he worked.

No nefarious purposes at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s the end of Reflections! However, the story will continue! I’ve decided to make this a series. Be on the lookout for the next installment in the “Director Wily” series sometime soon. I hope you’ve enjoyed!


End file.
